


Gabriel's Christmas story

by camenby



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Wings, Bickering, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cuddle Pile, Cuddling & Snuggling, Gabriel's candy problem, Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Singing, Storytelling, some of it could be seen as shippy but also. like. Cas and Charlie are cuddling too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25326142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camenby/pseuds/camenby
Summary: Yes, I know it's currently July,,  (I wrote this a while ago and was too shy to post it until now.)Gabriel tells the Christmas story in his own way, they all cuddle, and Castiel sings.
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester, Gabriel & Sam Winchester, and just generally they all love each other
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. a Christmas story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, they all have a cuddle pile on a couch - Charlie, Cas, Dean, Jack, Sam, and Gabriel - while Gabriel tells them the Christmas story in his own way. You can probably tell that I ship Destiel and Sabriel, but this is focused on the friendship between all of them.

Cas looked up as Dean, Gabriel, Sam, and Charlie trooped in.He looked helplessly at Jack as their peaceful and serious conversation was interrupted.

“How many candy bars have you _had_ , Dean?” Sam asked sternly as he sat down on the end of the couch next to Jack. 

Dean just grinned at him obnoxiously.“Hey, I bet we could all fit on this couch!”He squeezed in between Cas and Jack, trapping Cas’s right arm behind his back.Cas stared at him in a slightly smite-y way.Dean smiled sunnily back.

“Sorry, Cas,” Charlie said.“I’m using you as a seat.”She hopped onto Cas’s lap and stretched her legs across everyone else’s.Cas sighed, but in a affectionate way, and resigned himself to being squished. _These are the people I’ve chosen to love,_ he thought.It was turning out to be quite comfortable, actually. 

Gabriel snapped up another candy bar, laughed, and fell gracefully onto Sam, who made a noise like the breath had been knocked out of him (which was completely probable) but didn’t push him off, even when he managed to spread his body over nearly the entire couch: who knew someone so short could do that? 

“Is this… customary?” Jack asked, sounding lost.

“Yes.Well, sort of.Humans need physical contact with each other - at least eight hugs a day - to survive.Babies will actually die if they are not cuddled enough, I’ve heard,” Cas explained.

“Ah.…I see.”Jack sat back, not looking like he was any less confused.

“I wonder what the rule is for Nephilim?” Sam wondered out loud, then said jokingly, smiling fondly, “I know it’s got to be different for archangels, at least, because this one here seems to need about _eighteen_ a day.” 

“Oh, yeah, I know, the guy’s a cuddle monster,” Dean added, dislodging the foot slowly creeping underneath his thigh.

Gabriel illustrated Sam’s point further by scooting even closer, wrapping an arm around him, and somehow not getting chocolate on either of their shirts.(Probably by virtue of being an archangel.)

“What other human traditions are there that I haven’t heard about?” Jack asked.

“ _So_ many,” Charlie said at the same time as Gabriel said, “Mistletoe’s a fun one!”

“Maybe we can _not_ mentally scar the poor guy?” Sam asked.Gabriel ignored him.“No, I guess not.Sorry, Jack.”

“So humans have this weird tradition to kiss each other whenever there’s mistletoe above them.But do you know how it started?”

“How?”Charlie asked.“Wait, no, I know this one.You realize Jack is like two weeks old-”  
Gabriel was already settling back, taking a deep breath, and launching into his story.

“A very long time ago, before any of you were born- except Cas, he was off somewhere not doing particularly well as a soldier- they called me Loki.Now, Baldur, one of the pagan gods I was living with, was pretty annoying.He was always nice and friendly, and he was super boring!Everyone liked him.And I mean _eeeeveryone_.This one other pagan god decided she was going to make sure nothing could kill him.She made all of the plants and so on promise that they would never hurt him.But she missed one plant!Mistletoe.Ha- _missed mistletoe_.So I used it to kill him.It was really funny, actually.”

“Wait.You killed someone because he was nice and friendly?”Jack frowned.

“Oh, he still exists, he’s in the underworld now.Until Ragnarok, apparently.Don’t worry, kiddo!We used to kill each other all the time, it was our favorite thing to do.”

“Could we maybe have a less morbid story now?” Charlie asked.“Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of friendly murder!”She glanced at Cas and then Jack.“Sarcasm.Murder is very bad.”

“I could tell you the actual story of Christmas!”Gabriel finished his candy bar and materialized a new one.“Want some chocolate, Sam-a-lam?”

“Oh no,” Dean groaned.He dramatically flopped onto Cas’s shoulder.“Not this one again.”

“ _Yes_ , this one again!”Gabriel gestured dramatically with his candy bar, taking a deep breath in preparation for what Cas was worried would turn into an epic.Sam dodged a flying elbow.Jack put up a hand, worried about the knee closest to his face.

“So!I was given the job of telling this one dude, Zachariah, that he was going to get a son.But he’s, you know, _super_ old.He didn’t believe me, even though I was all, _I’m an angel, God personally sent me, here’s my super impressive resume_.”

“Hark, the boasty angel sings,” Sam sang under his breath.

“Shut up, Sammy.”Gabriel poked him on the nose.

“Hey!” Dean protested.“Only I get to call him that!”

“It’s fine, Dean,” Sam told him, trying not to smile.Cas didn’t quite understand why he put up with everything Gabriel did with so much patience, as Gabriel was extremely annoying, but he supposed it was important to take into consideration that Gabriel had not thrown _him_ off a cliff as “flying lessons” before it had been explained to him _how_ to fly.Most likely Gabriel seemed like a good sort of person to befriend if that had not happened to you.

“Anyway, he didn’t believe me!So I-”

“Turned him mute for nine months,” Cas grumbled.“Yes, I know.I’ve heard this several times.”

Dean held his hand up for a fistbump.Cas glared at him and then pointedly at his right arm, still stuck between the couch and Dean, who sheepishly leaned forward.Cas moved his arm up, attempted to find a position from which he could actually reach Dean’s hand, and after a few seconds set it back down again around Dean’s shoulders, which worked perfectly. _Fine_ , he thought, and bumped their fists together. _I give up on these ridiculous human customs and awkward lengths of arms._

“But the irony of it was that he couldn’t say he didn’t believe me anymore!There wasn’t any paper in the room.So he had to just sit there and listen!”Gabriel squinted at them.“If this really is boring, I can stop.”

“Keep going, please!” Jack encouraged him.“I’ve never heard the Christmas story before.”

“Well, you’re about to hear an accurate version!Those Bibles you humans have get it all stuffy and tedious.All right, so he couldn’t talk until the baby was named John, like I told him to do, and then he could speak again!”

“Poetic justice,” Charlie laughed.

“Yeah, exactly!So then Elizabeth had a baby.Poor girl, she was a bit old for that- though that _was_ the point.But I’m skipping ahead.Before John was born, there was the whole virgin pregnancy thing- weird babymaking in the _opposite_ direction.”

Sam began to shake with barely controlled laughter, covering his face with a hand.

“I had the job of telling Mary, too.I’m basically the Christmas angel, really!I kind of just appeared in her bedroom, and she was pretty scared, but I told her not to be, and then-”

“Yo, Mary, you’re preggers!” Sam recited along with him.

Gabriel stopped.“How many times have you heard this?”

“Too many.”Sam was really laughing now.“But also definitely _not_.Please continue.”

A pause.Then: “Okay!Well, that’s a loose translation.You know it was in Hebrew, right?Because they didn’t speak English there.Anyway, she got the message, but she was super confused, because she was, you know, a virgin, and generally the thing that gets you pregnant is sex!She wasn’t sure if she had heard me correctly, so she was like, _what_ , and I was like, _what_ , and then I was like, yeah, the creator of the entire universe’s putting a baby in you, it’s sort of actually Him but also not, no big deal, name him ‘God saves us’ because he’s gonna do that.You good?And she was like, wow, that’s going to be just awesome, my fiance's not gonna like this, but if God says so, then here we go!how am I supposed to contradict Him!”

Sam was leaning over with his forehead on Gabriel’s shoulder at this point, helplessly laughing so hard Cas was worried there were going to be negative effects on his health.

“You okay, Samsquatch?” Gabriel asked.

Sam gave a thumbs-up.

Gabriel shrugged and continued. 

Jack listened with rapt attention as he told the story of appearing to Joseph in a dream.Cas noticed that the rest of them were getting a little bit sleepy.Charlie was kind of snuggling with him at this point, and Dean’s head was using his shoulder as a pillow.Even Jack began to droop until he looked like he was sleeping very soundly against Sam’s arm.

As Gabriel finished with Joseph’s story and moved on to the baby’s birth, Cas saw Sam’s eyelids falling a little, though he was still smiling at appropriate points of the story.It was rather late, he realized.They had had a busy day.There had been a snowball fight- there was still a piece of snow in Jack’s hair, so he reached over, careful not to move Dean or Charlie, and brushed it out of the way. 

Gabriel paused, then began again, more quietly, “There had to be some people to see the baby and to spread the word.Michael was thinking maybe some royalty, a procession to show off the new King.But nope!There were some convenient shepherds in the fields- no one liked shepherds, but they were always there, taking care of their _remarkably_ stupid sheep.We were told to sing to them.No one recognized as special, no one seen as important.Just ordinary people, and they were the first ones to tell the story.”He smiled, remembering.“Cas, you were there for that.”

“Yes, I was.”

“How did it go?Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Cas softly sang a few words in Enochian.“Wasn’t it more like that?”

Gabriel looked a little surprised.“Yeah, I think so.I haven’t thought about that one in ages.”He sang the next few words, a little louder. 

Sam started making quiet snorting noises, his eyes having finally closed.Gabriel removed a piece of hair from his nose and gently set him back against the couch.

Cas looked at him and sang the next notes.Gabriel joined in, and they sang until they had finished the song, combining their vessels’ voices and (very, very carefully) the voices of their true forms, singing together again for the first time in two thousand and some-odd years. 

The echoes of their song reverberated for a few minutes. 

When it seemed quieter, Cas asked in a hushed voice, “Shouldn’t we move them to their beds?Wouldn’t that be more comfortable for them?”

“Just a few more minutes,” Gabriel requested quietly, curling up.“I haven’t- there wasn’t much singing with the pagans, just warrior cries and epic poems.I missed it.”

“So did I,” Cas whispered.“I don’t think most of our siblings like singing all that much.They prefer smashing and smiting things.”

“You like smashing and smiting things,” Gabriel pointed out.

“That’s fair.But I also like singing.That song is incredibly beautiful.”Cas closed his eyes and shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position if that were possible with two people using him as a pillow.At least they were people he liked.

“You have a beautiful singing voice,” Gabriel commented, smirking. 

“Thank you,” Cas replied, surprised.“So do you… was that sarcasm?”

“Oh, no.Definitely not.It sounds like a whole bunch of gravel got dumped on a chalkboard and then-”

“Don’t ruin the moment.”

“There was a moment?” 

Cas sighed.“Gabriel, you are my brother and I love you, but you are incredibly annoying sometimes.”

“I know.”Gabriel grinned mischievously.

“He Han Solo’d you,” Charlie mumbled, raising her head before dropping it again onto Cas’s chest.

“I thought you were asleep!”Cas looked down at her, surprised.Charlie made a snuffly noise.“Well, I guess you are now.”

“People can sleeptalk, you know,” Dean informed him.“And we’re only… mostly asleep.That’s different from all asleep.” 

“Princess Bride reference!” Charlie slurred excitedly.“And I like your voice.It’s _dreamy_.Right, Dean?”

“Yeah!” Dean agreed enthusiastically.Cas wasn’t sure if he knew what he was agreeing _to_ , but the sentiment was nice.

He smiled fondly at them, then at Jack and Sam and Gabriel.They were an amazing family.Who cared if most of them weren’t related to each other?As Dean and Sam were fond of saying, families don’t end in blood.


	2. a way shippier chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is. Um. Much shippier. Cas and Gabriel carry the others to their rooms so they can sleep more comfortably. Cas sings some more and Gabriel is still very cuddly.

Cas sat there for a few more minutes, Dean and Charlie curled up on him.Then he took a breath.“Gabriel, we should really put them in their beds.Couches aren’t meant for sleeping, especially not like this.”

“All right, fine.”Gabriel pouted.“I can take Jack and Sam, you take Charlie and Dean.”

“You know where their rooms are?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”Gabriel carefully moved until he was standing on the floor, and then scooped Jack up. 

Cas gently shifted Dean’s head off of his shoulder, setting him down on the couch while managing to simultaneously stand up with Charlie without waking either of them.

He carried her to her room, easy to find as it was the one with all of the posters and fandom paraphernalia.The door was decorated to look like the Tardis, which he knew because she had made them all watch several episodes of Doctor Who.It was a fairly interesting piece of media, and Cas understood the Doctor’s point of view quite well.

The bed wasn’t made, so he set her down on it and started arranging the blankets for her. 

“Thanks for singing,” Charlie said in a sleepy voice.“Very pretty.”

“Thank you,” Cas replied, surprised.“I enjoyed it.”

“You should do it more,” she told him, then curled up into the blankets. 

Cas left her room thinking.He did enjoy singing, and would like to do it more.He tried a few notes of one of his favorites, then kept going, careful to be quiet enough not to wake anyone up.

Back at the couch, Gabriel was picking Sam up.It was almost comical to see how easily Gabriel could pick up someone so tall, but when Cas looked at them to see the more supernatural side of things, the positions had flipped: a powerful archangel was holding a small but precious human soul.

Gabriel passed by with Sam.Cas continued singing softly.He sat by Dean, remembering how violently he would respond to being woken up suddenly and trying to figure out the best way to deal with the situation.

Dean solved it for him, his eyes slowly blinking open.

“You’re glowing, Cas.”

Cas stopped singing in the middle of a word. 

“Your eyes are all grace-y, and you look like you swallowed fifteen or so glowsticks.Oh, now it’s going away.What was _that_ about?”

“Uh- never mind, I forget about my grace when I sing,” Cas hurriedly deflected.“You should go to bed.”

“Don’t want to.”Dean crossed his arms sleepily.

“I _will_ pick you up,” Cas warned him fondly.

“I dare you to.”

Cas stood up, slid his arms under Dean, and picked him up, carrying him the same way he had carried Charlie. 

Dean ended some undignified flailing with grabbing Cas’s shoulders and holding on for dear life.“I didn’t think you were actually going to do it,” he laughed, surprised. 

“But you said-”

“Fine, whatever, just don’t drop me.”Dean let go and patted Cas’s chest.“You’re so literal, Cas, I love you.”

Cas looked down, startled that Dean would say something like that out loud.It was probably all the sugar he’d consumed that day.“I love you too, Dean.” 

Dean was now pretending to be asleep to avoid having to deal with replying. 

Cas sighed, pushed the door to his room open, and set him down. 

Apparently that had been long enough now, as Dean suddenly said, “You’re a horrible liar.”

“I am not!I once betrayed and deceived both you and your brother.”Cas put on an offended look.

Dean laughed but continued.“Why were you glowing?”

Cas sat down abruptly, missing Dean’s feet under the covers just by chance.“Um.I wasn’t actually lying.I do forget about my grace when I sing.It just, uh, then- my wings show, and they’re kind of broken at the moment.”

“Why are they broken?” Dean asked, an edge of horror slipping into his voice.

“From being thrown out of the Empty, I guess?They’re healing, but they’re not a thing I want people to see.Gabriel’s been surprisingly nice about it, actually.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Not really.They’ll heal eventually.”

“Well, you shouldn’t let me keep you from singing.I’m gonna go to sleep now, I won’t look.”

Cas hesitated, then said softly, “I don’t think I really _would_ mind, if it’s you, Dean.All of you, you’re my family.”

Dean turned over, his eyes a little wider than usual, and repeated, “Yeah.Family.That’s what we are, isn’t it?”

Cas smiled, then took a breath to sing.He could feel himself start to glow, like Dean had noticed earlier, and after a little bit, his wings began to creep into the more natural plane of existence.

“What does that mean?”Dean asked.“I mean, in English?”

Cas transitioned seamlessly between languages.“He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart, he does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend-”He stopped there.“It’s a translation of the Psalms I’ve been working on.That’s the fifteenth one.Uh, that’s the New American Standard Bible, there are a bunch of different English translations.I’m not sure how we managed to not have any translations in Enochian.”

Dean smiled at him and scooted under the covers.“Cool.I’m sort of tired now, so I’m gonna actually sleep.Your wings are nice.I hope they heal soon.”

Cas smiled at him and began to sing again, more softly this time.

_I’ll watch over you._

\-----

Sam was mostly aware that he was being picked up and carried to his room.He wondered briefly who was able to do that so easily, then realized that it was Gabriel, which also explained the strangely comforting smell of sugar. 

He was also mostly aware of being set down in his bed.The confusing part was when the smell of sugar didn’t go away and neither did the warm body that was now behind him. 

“Gabriel?” he asked, swinging his arm wildly.

“Hey, shh, kiddo, it’s just me,” came a reply from- yep.Definitely right behind him.

“I thought angels didn’t need to sleep?”

“We don’t _need_ to, but it’s nice.”

“I think there’s a guest bed or something down the hall.”

“But you’re _warm_.”

Sam laughed and scooted backwards slightly.“Thanks, I guess.”

Gabriel latched onto him and stuck his cold feet between Sam’s. 

At this point, Sam had given up.He did enjoy being around Gabriel: even if the constant cuddliness was weird, having grown up with John and Dean Winchester, it was surprisingly nice.He could handle a couple cold feet and a persistent smell of-

“Gabriel, are you eating something?”

“Mmrph- nope, definitely not!”

“Clean it up, please.I don’t need melted chocolate on my bed.”

“How do you know it was chocolate?”

“Because I know you, and that wasn’t a lollipop sound.Go to sleep if that’s your plan.”

A few seconds and a snap, and then, “You’re shivering.I’m sorry.”Gabriel removed his feet and Sam felt something wrap around him.He began to warm up.

“What are you doing?”

“Warming you up!”

“How?”

“Hellooo?Angel stuff!”

“Are those your wings?”Sam cautiously opened one eye to a faceful of golden feathers.“Yeah, guess so.…Thanks.”He began to drift off to sleep, feeling safer than he had in years.“They’re pretty.”

“Just like you!”Gabriel patted him on the cheek.“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Sam mumbled back.


End file.
